I have been given the honor by the equally beautiful and inspiring Allyn Lewis to be September’s ‘Shine Expert’ for her Gem Nation program. Allyn does such an exceptional job collecting and distributing resources to her Gem Nation members, allowing entrepreneurs to develop their brands and businesses. Check out her website to find out more and potentially become a VIP.

Every month, Allyn selects an expert in a specific industry to offer resources to her members to grow their business, and this month yours truly is the ‘Shine Expert’. We will be offering one-on-one branding consultations and a ‘Guide to Shine: Branding Edition’ workbook on brand cohesiveness. We will also be holding a “Clean Up Your Brand” challenge throughout the last week of September. Yes I know those are exciting, so do join in!

To start out this adventure together, we did a Bizpiration Interview, which can be found here. I wanted to share some of the answers that are specific to branding with you today.

WHY IS VISUAL CONSISTENCY SO IMPORTANT FOR A BRAND?

We all crave stability and consistency naturally. In some form, we all need the bedtime routine, the three meals a day, the holiday seasons, set standards and bondaries in relationships, etc. Well, brand consistency is in a way the same thing. For people to invite you in their lives they want you to be a sure thing. They want to always be able to recognize you, they want to know what your standards are as a brand; they want to be able to find you when they need you. Consistency for a brand shows intentionality and confidence which will resonate emotionally with your ideal audience as you target them. Brand consistency creates loyal customers that eventually ‘sell’ for you through your branding.

WHAT ELEMENTS MAKE UP A GREAT BRAND VISUALLY?

A good brand is simple visually but complex and intricate conceptually. It should leave your audience stunned and wanting more without confusing them. Type and colors are key elements in a great visual brand, since so much can be conveyed through those two elements. You want people to know who you are and what you are selling (product or idea) and feel emotionally connected to it. If your brand can easily, visually achieve that, you’ve got a keeper! It’s more than having a pretty font or perfectly paired color combination, it’s about capturing the essence and personality of your business. Think of good branding as a visual hook, elements that put together reel in your ideal client right where you prepared your best copy, catching marketing strategy, and unique products.

WHAT ARE A FEW WELL-KNOWN BRANDS THAT YOU THINK HAVE STRONG BRANDING AND BEAUTIFUL GRAPHICS?

There are so many who do it so well, it’s hard to single out anybody. Apple definitely would have to be mentioned. Their clean minimalist branding is extremely effective and has set such a standard of quality and innovation in all our minds If you have ever bought anything from the Apple store you probably have felt this way: “ I don’t know what is about to happen when I open this box but I know it’s going to be mind blowing and I am going to have a great experience no matter what.” A brand that makes you feel that way has good branding! As far as great graphics, here is a completely arbitrary and subjective list – some more well-known than others – Chipotle, Halo Top, Mast Brothers, Sugarfina, Moo, Woven Pear, to only name a few. And of course Reverie Lane Designs, not well-known but I’m working on that! haha

WHAT DO YOU WISH YOUR CLIENTS KNEW BEFORE STARTING A PROJECT?

I wish my clients knew who their ideal audience was before they came to me. It’s one thing to have a vision for your graphics, it is another to know what is going to speak to your ideal client. It’s so important to think this through.

Well, I hope to see you on the GemNation and get to work with you on your brands. I am so very enthused by this project and getting to work with some bold entrepreneurs.

REVERIE MINGLES: WHAT DO YOU STRUGGLE WITH TO KEEP YOUR BRAND VISUALLY CONSISTENT?

Rachel

This is great! I love all of your insight on branding and I can’t wait to see how the clean up your brand challenge goes! Great idea!

Thank you Rachel! I am so excited too and can’t wait to start working with them all.

September 2, 2015 at 9:51 am

Chelsea Anderson

Love this post, especially after just going through a similar branding process. I think for me I struggle with the mixing of keeping a strong visual brand vs. keeping a stronger core brand. To me, my core brand is more important than my visual brand and really leads me in every direction when I’m making visual decisions for my Instagram and beyond. I struggle with visual because sometimes I feel like my visual Instagram isn’t as pretty and put together as other photographers I follow, etc… but my core brand is all about being authentic, sharing life with one another in the messy and beautiful moments. So, I’m stuck between this place of trying to figure out if those messy and imperfect background moments on my instagram are “visually consistent” with the rest… or does core brand really trump after all? I hope that makes sense!

Chelsea, I completely get what you mean. One of my core values is also authenticity, and sometimes I feel like a nicely planned Instagram patterned feed can feel unauthentic. I personally don’t do it, I stick to my core values and try to mix planning with spontaneity. My visual brand is closely connected to my core values and I have set graphics that support that and allow me to be ‘me’.
When it comes to social media, I think visual consistency and frequency is what will convey your core values. It doesn’t mean a perfectly planned grid, it means that your audience recognizes your brand and knows your message because you keep at it and present it in a way that is unique to you and familiar to them.